


Playing Yourself

by Madame_Beret



Category: Dalton Academy Series, Glee
Genre: Future Fic, Interviews, M/M, very sugary sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-20
Updated: 2013-01-20
Packaged: 2017-11-26 05:03:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/646871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madame_Beret/pseuds/Madame_Beret
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Julian has an interview all of way over in the Greatest of Britain and may just have a plan to surprise Logan. Then again, Logan might just have a surprise for him too</p>
            </blockquote>





	Playing Yourself

**Author's Note:**

  * For [the_overlord](https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_overlord/gifts).



This wasn’t a big deal. Lie. This was a big deal. And it was an even bigger deal because he hadn’t told Logan what he was planning to do. He hadn’t even been planning to do it until Logan had insisted that  _of course_ he was coming to London.

_“Lo, you really don’t have to. It’s not like this is my first time in London or anything. It’s not even my first interview there.”_

_“I know Jules. But indulge me, please. I don’t ask for much, I don’t parade our relationship across all the tabloids and I rarely come to your premieres. And I know it’s what you want because of all that shit about getting typecast once people find out you’ve got a boyfriend. I get it and I do it because I love you. But that doesn’t mean I have to like it.”_

_“Oh Logan. You’re such an idiot!” His words were softened as he ran a hand through his boyfriend’s blonde locks and rested their foreheads together. “I love you too. And I wish you’d said something. I know you’ve been off your meds for a while now but it’s still not good to keep things like that all bottled up.”_

_He closed his eyes as Julian’s hand started to massage his scalp._

_“Sorry,” he mumbled._

_“Don’t be. Come with me.” He looked straight into Logan’s over-bright blue eyes, “Come with me to London and sit in the audience. And feel free to tell people just how much you mean to me.”_

_“I wouldn’t do that Princess,” they both smiled at the old nickname, “you love your career too much for me to ever jeopardise it.”_

_“But I love you more.” And wasn’t that the truth. “Besides, I’ve played enough variety of parts now that people can see what I do. Anyone out there who still wants to typecast me because I have a boyfriend can go fuck themselves.”_

_He pressed his lips to Logan’s own warm ones. It wasn’t passionate, it didn’t need to be. It was a kiss filled with promise and reassurance, reassurance that he really did love Logan more than anything else in the world. That he’d loved him since freshman year and here they were, ten years later, and he only loved him more._

And that was when he’d decided. It was also when he’d decided not to tell Logan so it could be a surprise. Only Logan wasn’t particularly keen on surprises. And Julian couldn’t even be sure that this was a good surprise; for all that Logan wished he could show the world how much he loved Julian maybe this was taking things a bit too far. He hadn’t even told tonight’s host what he was planning to do over some paranoid fear that it would all get back to Logan.

One minute he was flicking the mic on the lapel of his jacket thinking all of this through, and the next a dumpy little woman with a headset on was pushing him through the doors and onto the set as he was introduced to raucous applause.

“Tonight, please welcome my first guest, fangirl favourite and star of the new film  _With Or Without You_ , Julian Larson-Armstrong!”

Julian blinked at the sudden harsh lighting of the set but made him way towards the red sofa as he’d been prepped to do earlier in the day, and shook Graham Norton’s hand.

Graham did a quick bit to camera explaining that his two other guests would be joining them later as they were coming straight from a premiere. Or something. Julian wasn’t really listening as he took the time to scan the audience for Logan who he hadn’t seen since they woke up together in their hotel that morning. Logan had gone back to sleep as he complained about jet lag. Julian had made just as much, if not  _more_ , fuss but had dragged himself away from the warmth all the same.

The audience was mostly full of women. That wasn’t a surprise as he’d had hundreds of Tweets from his female fanbase telling him that they’d be out in force tonight. Some of them were wearing t-shirts with his face of messages of undying love for him emblazoned across them.

Finally he found Logan, about seven rows from the front, third seat along from the aisle. He smiled at Julian and gave a tiny, almost imperceptible wave. Julian returned it with an equally subtle nod.

“So,” Graham Norton turned to him, “it’s fantastic that you’re here, in London.”

There was a woop from the crowd and Julian felt himself smile as he slipped effortlessly into interview mode.

“I know. I’ve been here a few times before for premieres and things and I love this city. Call me weird but I find huge cities like this really romantic. Like New York. If you can find a quiet spot among all the crazy bustle of the city then I’ll be in heaven.”

“And of course you are here to promote your new film which comes out in March, if I’m correct.”

“Yeah. It’s quite different to a lot of stuff that I’ve done before.”

“I know! It’s so much darker. And you wear lots of black and eyeliner which, I have to say, I  _loved._ ”

Julian actually blushed at that.

“Well the character, James, gets to a really dark point in his life and then everything sort of spirals out of control as a result. Sadly that includes his wardrobe.”

Graham laughed,

“Well I think we’ve got a clip.” He looked down at his prompt cards, “this is the bit where James is looking for somewhere to score some drugs for the first time and he realises he’s way out of his depth.”

The clip rolled and Julian saw himself on the monitor, dressed as James, with a shaddy looking character skulking in a dark alleyway.

He’d seen the clip before. Hell he’d filmed the damn scene. Twelve bloody times because the guy playing the drug dealer kept cracking up at something and the director had had to call ‘cut’.

So, instead of watching the familiar scene, he found Logan in the crowd again. He was watching the monitor playing the clip and looking so proud. Old friends from Dalton (who  _did_ know about the romantic nature of their relationship) found it hard to believe that this was the same Logan who had once been, to put it mildly, batshit crazy.

As if sensing Julian’s gaze on him Logan looked away from the screen and at Julian.

“I love you,” he mouthed.

Julian blushed and reached to take a sip of his vodka and coke to cover it up as the clip came to an end and the audience starting clapping their apprecation.

One woman even screaming out,

“I love you Julian.”

Graham laughed and scanned the audience for where the voice had come from.

“Quite the fan you’ve got there Julian.”

“Yeah,” he smiled good naturedly, “I’ve got a few like that actually.”

“But I’m your number one fan,” called the same woman.

A camera swung into her face which suddenly appeared on the monitor showing those on set what the camera was seeing.

“Really,” Graham raised his eyes and glanced back at Julian, “and what makes you such a big fan?”

“I’ve camped out for all your premieres and I can quote all your films and every episode ever of  _Somethi'ng Damaged_.”

“Wow,” Julian bantered back for entertainment purposes (this happened all the time on the Graham Norton Show; they clearly didn’t weed out the crazies at the stage door), “I’m not sure even I could do that now!”

“You were amazing though, Grant was always my favourite character. I’ve got a huge poster of him stuck to the ceiling above my bed so you’re the first thing I see when I wake up and the last thing I see at night.”

_Oh my god!_ Julian thought to himself, but on the surface he managed an awkward laugh as Graham laughed his strange choking laugh beside him.

“I want to marry you Julian! I’ve even made a doll of you that I use to marry a doll I’ve made of me.”

_WTF._ The woman then proceeded to reach into a bag and pull out said dolls. Graham told one of the crew to bring them forward so he could examine them up close.

Julian honestly didn’t know what to say. He’d met crazy fans before (Adam being the ultimate crazy fan, of course) but this woman still knocked him for six. She’d made a doll of him! It was like some twisted form of voodoo or something.

The doll of herself was just an ordinary Barbie doll with brown hair and a homemade t-shirt reading ‘Mrs Larson-Armstrong’.

But the doll of him was much more detailed, to a worrying degree. It had started out as a normal ordinary Ken doll but the hair had been cut and styled like his own and he recognised the suit as a miniature replica of a Gucci one he’d worn to his last film premiere.

“Can he keep these?”

_What? Keep them? Why would I want to keep them? I want them destroyed because they're just creepy and I've had enough of truly crazy fans for a lifetime._

“Of course. I’ve got others at home anyway!” The crazy lady was beaming as Graham handed him the dolls.

“Um, thanks.” His throat was dry.

“What’s you name?”

She had a microphone now.  _When did she get a microphone?_

“Barbra.”

“Maybe we should set you two up on a date. We could whip something up backstage.”

Julian restrained his scowl, stupid Graham Norton was having too much fun with this. And Barbra was looking far too excited at the prospect of a date. He looked, once again, in Logan’s direction. He was scowling deeply.

Bite the bullet. Now or never. This had already gone too far.

“Actually Graham, that might not be the best idea.”

“Oh? But we never see you out with anyone. Guys  _or_  girls.”

It was public knowledge that he was bi-sexual. It was just Logan that wasn’t common knowledge. It was easier for people to forget he swung both ways if there wasn’t a guy on the scene.

“Actually there’s a certain someone in my life who wouldn’t be too thrilled at the idea of me going on a date with another woman.”

This was it. His plan was beginning to unfold and there was no way he could stop it now. He didn’t dare look at his boyfriend, terrified of the emotions he might see across his face. He ran a shaking hand through his oak coloured hair as he steeled himself up for this big reveal of his.

“Does this mean you’ve got a secret girlfriend? Is it your beautiful co-star in this latest film Jamie Sellars? Because I have read plenty of magazines that think you looked very close on set. I for one think she’s gorgeous, from a totally gay perspective of course.”

Julian was too nervous to really laugh at this joke. He wrung his hands anxiously. Which was crazy in itself because Julian didn’t get nervous; he was a professional actor for god’s sake!

But that was just the thing, wasn’t it? It’s easy to put on a costume and play a character, but it’s so so much harder to play yourself.

“No. No Jamie and I really are just good friends. I’m actually with someone that I’ve known for more than ten years, we went to school together and I think I fell in love almost instantly. We quickly became best friends, they were one of the few people who actually put up with my diva attitude which was even worse back then!” He took a deep breath, aware that he still hadn’t used any definite pronouns and that everyone was watching him intently. They were all transfixed and desperate to hear the end of his story; it wasn’t everyday that an international celebrity revealed he had a secret love life. And that wasn’t even the juicy bit. Those fans who knew enough about him (that probably included Barbra) might have realised that he had gone to an all boys boarding school.

He took another sip of his drink; dutch courage. He still didn’t dare look Logan in the eye.

“It took me a long time to actually confess my feelings to this person, much to the chagrin of everyone else in my house. They all seemed to know. My other best friend, Derek Seigerson…”

“The American rower? The Olympic gold medallist?” Graham Norton cut in. Rather unhelpfully actually; Julian had been building momentum.

“Yeah, that’s the one. He was particularly annoyed by my silence on the subject. But I had my reasons. And then, in our junior year, we had a near death experience and they always make you revaluate your life and the people in it. So I confessed. Everything. It… it didn’t go well at first. They were in a pretty bad place in their life – I actually used their experiences as inspiration in this latest film – so I don’t think my confession helped to lighten the load at all. But they’re such an amazing person that they took it away with them and really thought about it. About a week later we sat down and talked it all out properly we decided that even if said person wasn’t quite ready to say they loved me back – at least, not as more than a friend – we could give it a go. And that, not to sound cliché, was the beginning of what’s become the most important thing in my life.”  
The audience aww’ed. Huh, he’d kind of forgotten they were even there. And that Logan was out there too.

“And does this special someone have a name?”

“Yes, and they’re actually here tonight.”

Graham raised his eyebrows and ran his eyes over the audience.

“Where? Who? Which one?”

“In the seventh row.”

A camera panned across the row. Julian finally looked at Logan… and breathed out a sigh of relief. His cheeks were flushed with embarrassment and he’d sunk down in his seat but he was smiling.

“It’s him! The one who’s blushing and trying to hide away. Hi!”

Logan’s words stuck in his throat but he managed a small wave and Graham clapped in delight.

“Is it true? Have you really been going out with this huge diva for about 7 years?”

“Um,” he rubbed the back of his neck and a huge overhead microphone came in even closer, “yeah. I suppose. Although after tonight we’ll have to see how much longer this is going to last.”

The audience around him twittered with laughter and Graham made that strange noise that Julian supposed was him laughing. It bolstered Logan’s confidence and he sat up straighter in his seat.

“But I love him. However much I try I just can’t stop and get out.”

“Don’t all the crazy fans really annoy you?”

Who was he interviewing here, Julian or Logan?

“Yeah, I guess. But you kind of get used to it. And I’m still the one he comes home to every night. It’s his crazy schedule that annoys me. I can go for weeks without seeing him other than when he sneaks out of bed in the morning for an early call. And I’m a U.S. Congressman so my schedule can be just as hectic, but we’ve had enough time together to work out a system that works for us.”

They were making disgustingly gooey eyes at each other across the studio.

Julian tuned out from then on in. The two other guests for the show arrived from their premiere then and Graham focused his attention on them with Julian just adding his ten cents every so often.

He was too busy thinking of all the things he was going to do with Logan when they got back to their hotel room that night. Starting with a long, warm bath so they could both relax after an early start, a long day and jet lag. And who knew where things would go from there…

The show headed towards its end credits with some new and upcoming singer performing. Julian listened. And decided that he much preferred Logan’s voice when he was belting a song out in the shower.

And then it was time for the last segment of the show, stories in the red chair. Graham explained.

“People from the audience can sit in the red chair and tell us a story to try and entertain us. If they don’t we tip them out.” He patted his trusty lever.

“Ok, who’s first up?”

The TV screen showed a man in bright yellow skinny jeans and a green checked shirt. He told some story about a monkey at a zoo. He didn’t get to finish before Graham pulled his lever and the man’s legs flew into the air and the chair tipped backwards.

Graham laughed.

“Ok, I think we have time for one more. Who have we got?”

He turned to the screen. It was Logan. Logan was sitting in the red chair looking nervous.  _What?!_  Julian looked back into the audience and, yes, Logan was gone from his seat. Of course he was.

“Maybe you should take control of the lever on this one.”

Graham reached over and placed Julian’s hand on the control.

“This had better not be an embarrassing story about me Lo!”

“Don’t worry Princess, too many of those to pick just one.”

If anyone noticed the nickname they didn’t say anything, although Julian was sure the press would be using it tomorrow.

“Just hear me out here Jules. And don’t pull that thing like I know you’re going to want to. You’ve embarrassed me on this show already, now it’s my turn.”

This was going to end badly, Julian could just tell. His hand itched over the lever, but he was too curious. He had no qualms over tipping Logan out of his chair, none at all, but he did want to see where this was going.

Logan reached into his pocket and pulled something out. Julian couldn’t see what; Logan was keeping his hands below the camera.

“Ok, so,” he took a deep breath, “I was going to do this sometime this week. Somewhere more private. But, in the end, this way just seemed much more  _you_. You who could never resist stardom, even if you tried. You’re the ultimate diva and I love you. I love you even more after what you’ve done today, and I didn’t think it was possible to love you anymore. So I’m asking you,” he pulled his hands into shot. He was holding a ring box with a simple silver band it in, “to marry me.”

There was silence in the studio. The show had never seen anything like this before.

Julian was silent for a few moments, all he could hear was the blood pumping through his ears. And then a laughed and answered in a typical Julian fashion,  
“I’m going to kill you, Lo. But yes!”

Without really processing what he was doing he jumped out of his seat and ran around the back of the main set until he found Logan still sat in that ridiculous red chair clutching the little blue box.

“Yes. Yes yes yes!!”

He threw his arms around Logan, around his  _fiancé_.

“But you are in  _so_ much trouble for this.”

“Hey now, you started this.”

“Shut up and kiss me.”

And who was Logan to ignore a direct order from his favourite diva?

**Author's Note:**

> I seriously recommend you go to youtube and watch some red chair clips from the show, they can be brilliant!


End file.
